HEXBUG Aquabots.

The HEXBUG Aquabots are another well designed robotic creature that are very similar to the HEXBUG Nano. This is so because they essentially a very simple mechanism, but in their environment they appear to behave just like their biological counterpart.

Whenever you watch goldfish in the bowl you see them nose along the edges and once in awhile they will just decide to do something half interesting. The Aquabots are the same. Most of the time they just flick their tales and nudge their way around the bowl. But they are designed to, every once in awhile, change direction or dive. This is the aspect that gives them the appearance of being alive.

These are a great design because they could replace a kid's first goldfish that will eventually die. Or they can be the colorful display in the office. And they don't soil their tank or ever get hungry. But most of all, they are, through very simple and clever design,  a mechanical facsimile for the real thing. Not complicated but appearing so.

If these principles, which HEXBUG uses, were applied in other product design it could go a very long way. All too often concepts are over-complicated, thus taking away from their function or affordability.